{"id":243252,"date":"2023-12-08T12:30:41","date_gmt":"2023-12-08T12:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/?p=243252"},"modified":"2023-12-08T12:30:41","modified_gmt":"2023-12-08T12:30:41","slug":"kirstie-allsopps-christmas-miracle-as-she-makes-major-festive-change-and-leaves-uk-behind-im-beside-myself-with-excitement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/tv-and-movies\/kirstie-allsopps-christmas-miracle-as-she-makes-major-festive-change-and-leaves-uk-behind-im-beside-myself-with-excitement\/","title":{"rendered":"Kirstie Allsopp\u2019s \u2018Christmas miracle\u2019 as she makes major festive change and leaves UK behind – \u2018I\u2019m beside myself with excitement\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kirstie Allsopp has become the queen of DIY Christmas over the years, drumming up festive cheer with her homemade baubles and crafty colourful wreaths. However, this year, for the first time ever, the TV presenter is escaping the traditional British festivities and boarding a plane to the Big Apple for a lavish New York Christmas. <\/p>\n

Kirstie, 52, is taking her partner Ben Andersen and their sons Bay, 17, and Oscar, 15, on an American trip to the famously festive city \u2014 and plans to celebrate the holidays in style.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a hotel \u2014 I\u2019ve never been to New York for Christmas so I\u2019m beside myself with excitement,\u201d she beams. \u201cI picked this hotel in March, which looks like the most Christmassy hotel. I must remember to double, double, double check the booking!<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re going to do it all. We\u2019re going to go to a basketball match, we\u2019re going to go skating. I want to do the Rockettes [Radio City Music Hall\u2019s dance troupe], the kids are less keen on that. We may have to negotiate that one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kirstie didn\u2019t originally intend to spend Christmas in the States, but the family settled on New York after making \u201ca chronic balls-up\u201d with her kids\u2019 travel plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be absolutely honest, my son was going on a school ski trip and we were spending Christmas somewhere else, where we often go for Christmas with friends,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realised I couldn\u2019t get him from that place to that place, so I was like, \u2018Right. How do I make this work?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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But with all the stress now taken out of her festive arrangements, the family will be stopping by a friend\u2019s house on Christmas Eve \u2014 and Kirstie plans on doing it in style.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will walk down to the hairdressing salon in the hotel and have my hair done for a Christmas blow-dry,\u201d she laughs. \u201cAnd then I will drift out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, what do you usually do on Christmas Eve? Fret, wrap, panic \u2013 the whole thing. So it will be a miracle. I\u2019m really excited about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the Location Location Location co-presenter is buzzing for her American trip, she\u2019s still healing after falling down a flight of stairs in September. Kirstie was left \u201cbruised and battered\u201d after tumbling down some stairs in a pub while filming the Channel 4 show \u2014 and is still unnerved by the ordeal.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI lay on the floor for 20 minutes, the ambulance man picked me up, did tests, and they said, \u2018Look, you haven\u2019t got a major spinal injury, but you\u2019ve obviously done something, so you should probably go for an X-ray,\u2019\u201d she remembers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went back up the stairs and by that time this adrenaline high, which I\u2019d never had before, kicked in. Oh my God, that stuff\u2019s amazing,\u201d she says. \u201cI was laughing, I was chatty. Gus, my lovely work driver, took me to hospital, and I was lying across the back seat and I was literally chatting away, telling stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t long before the high wore off and Kirstie was left with the \u201cawful\u201d repercussions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my tailbone \u2014 I can\u2019t go to a certain point,\u201d she says, leaning forward. \u201cSo I can\u2019t go on my rowing machine, which is a real bore, because that\u2019s my quick sweat high. It\u2019s the one thing I can\u2019t do yet. There are other things \u2014 I\u2019ve now become funny about running for trains.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Kirstie will be wrapping and packing all her Christmas presents ahead of the holiday, however there\u2019s one gift she won\u2019t be taking with her \u2014 and it\u2019s from her Location Location Location co-star and longtime pal Phil Spencer.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhil gets me the same present every year. Should he change the present he gives me every year, I\u2019d be horrified \u2014 it\u2019s a ham,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m going to have it over New Year.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents always had a Christmas ham and I wasn\u2019t aware of how much I missed that as a part of Christmas until one year, I get this ham from Phil,\u201d she gushes. \u201cHam and scrambled eggs, ham sandwiches, bubble and squeak, ham and salad \u2014 it\u2019s the most useful thing to have in the house around Christmas time. It lasts for ages and you can freeze it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s been a tough year for Phil, who lost both his parents in a tragic car accident in August, and Kirstie says she regularly checks in with him. \u201cIf I\u2019m worried about Phil, I will call Phil\u2019s wife and say, \u2018I\u2019m a bit worried about Phil,\u2019 and I think he has had conversations with my other half,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t hang out outside of work because we are together all the time so our other halves need us back. But we\u2019re welcome in each other\u2019s homes at any time and we talk to each other all the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the relationship that it looks like \u2014 partly because after this length of time, somebody somewhere would have found the crack,\u201d she adds. \u201cWe\u2019re both one in four, we\u2019re both very close to our siblings. We have got a lot in common.\u201d<\/p>\n

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As for Kirstie\u2019s hot Christmas DIY tip for this year, it\u2019s time to grab a glue gun and some broken baubles for outdoor d\u00e9cor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realised how incredibly weatherproof Christmas decorations are,\u201d she says. \u201cI have all my Christmas decorations in clear plastic boxes but there\u2019s always the ones that I can\u2019t chuck out or they\u2019re missing their tops. Get a glue gun, shove all of those on something, shove them outside and they\u2019re going to look fantastic!\u201d<\/p>\n

Kirstie\u2019s Handmade Christmas airs on Sunday 10 December at 8pm on Channel 4.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n